Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id DAA22937 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 16 Mar 2001 03:37:22 GMT X-Originating-IP: [209.240.220.167] From: "Scott Chase" <ecphoric@hotmail.com> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: RE: Toggling nature's auto-erase Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 22:33:42 -0500 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: <F207dMJOtd3rOE9TuHZ000020c1@hotmail.com> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 16 Mar 2001 03:33:42.0901 (UTC) FILETIME=[E63AAA50:01C0ADC9] Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu>
>Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>To: "Memetics Discussion List" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
>Subject: RE: Toggling nature's auto-erase
>Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 21:06:26 -0500
>
>Hi Joe E. Dees -
>
> >isn't that what specialization's all about?
>
>Yup. Learning more and more about less and less until we know it all
>about nothing, to use that little phrase....
>
>Yes, though, specialization is an evolutionary trick too.
>
>But, I again look at the topic, and remember why I posted that article in
>the first place.
>
>What about the triggers of forgetting?
>
> >there can be a
> >trading off of breadth for depth.
>
>Or a narrowing of focus due to the walls caving in....
>
>
There is a recent republication of Ernst Mayr's _Systematics and the Origin
of Species_ which I'm planning on delving into now that I finally finished
Robert Gallo's _Virus Hunting_. The "Foreword" was written by Theodosius
Dobzhansky and strikes a chord about the specialization versus
generalization issue.
Gallo's book was fascinating, not just for the overview of HIV's discovery
itself, but in relation to the political nature of science. I'm not all that
familiar with the interpersonal chemistry and history between Gallo and Luc
Montagnier or between NIH and the Pasteur Institute over the HIV issue, but
after reading books by both Gallo and Montagnier, I'm intensely curious.
A possibly "memetic" side isue would be some of the undercurrent surrounding
HIV as a causal agent in AIDS. The name of Duesberg comes up here and it
makes one wonder how far people will run with unconventional ideas which go
against the grain of established ideas.
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